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How do I get more involved in UCU?

There are a number of ways to get involved in UCU work which will depend on what interests you, what your skills are and how much time you have available.

What are you interested in?

Start out by thinking about what interests you. What issues motivate you? It could be anything from equality issues, rights for fixed-term and part-time staff, bullying in your workplace or threats to jobs. You might want to help members with individual problems or want to strengthen the union by helping to recruit more people and find other new activists like yourself. It's also worth thinking about what particular skills or knowledge you have. Computer skills would come in handy for updating a local website or putting together a local activists' email list.

Get in touch with your branch

The best way to get involved is through your branch. A local committee will always welcome offers of help You can discuss with them what you might be interested in doing and they can let you know how you can become active. Besides becoming a workplace or department contact, you can also help in more informal ways. You could offer to recruit colleagues, maintain a noticeboard or help out with campaigning work. You might even just want to pass information on to the union. Whatever you decide to do, it all helps to strengthen your union.

Get involved at national level

There are many ways to get involved in UCU. We have several email discussion lists, including the activists email discussion list, for example, in which activists share knowledge, skills and experience as well as lists for health educators and for members delivering HE in FE colleges. You can find out about these lists here.

Get trained

Whatever it is you want to do, UCU has a training course that will help you do it. Have a look at the website to see what training is available. These courses are a great way to learn about what UCU does and how you can contribute. They are also good for meeting like-minded colleagues from other institutions.